As a kid, I liked the sound of an engine as it revved up before switching gears. I guess that comes from my dad owning a stick shift and it always sounded like a lot of fun to drive. As an adult, a quiet car was something more my style, and that could be my penchant for owning my vehicles and the age that those cars typically end up being!
So, on that level, an EV would definitely meet my desire for quiet– but that’s all it would do, and it seems like it would also be quiet a lot because of charging and other issues.
According to Gallup, the bloom is falling off the rose for all but the richest Americans:
Seven percent of Americans, up from 4% a year ago, report that they own an electric vehicle. That increase is matched by an equal decline in the percentage saying they are seriously considering buying one, from 12% to 9%.
Meanwhile, fewer Americans — 35%, down from 43% in 2023 — say they might consider buying an EV in the future. Thus, even as some people have moved ahead with their intent to buy an EV in the past year, public demand for the cars has contracted.
The Future of Electric Vehicles Looks Bleaker Than Ever
Overall, less than half of adults, 44%, now say they are either seriously considering or might consider buying an EV in the future, down from 55% in 2023, while the proportion not intending to buy one has increased from 41% to 48%.
It seems that electric cars are more about virtue signaling than actually being about climate change, and the economics are bearing out just like they do for solar, wind, etc. The biggest game changer here would be more nuclear investment, but don’t expect to see that any time soon.